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Life after playlists: ShareMyPlaylists launches a bespoke Spotify app development studio

ShareMyPlaylists has carved a niche for itself in the online music space, becoming known as the preeminent go-to for those wishing to share their Spotify playlists.

Just to recap, way back in early 2009 we first reported on how ShareMyPlaylists.com was a pretty useful tool for music-lovers. Then, two weeks after Spotify announced its platform for third-party apps last year, the company rolled out its very own music discovery and playlist-sharing Spotify app, while its iOS app relaunched in May to offer a new way to experience Spotify on the move.

So…what could possibly be next for ShareMyPlaylists? Well, not what you might’ve expected. It seems the company is seizing on the latent opportunities within the Spotify App platform to launch SMPapps.com, which it’s claiming as “the first bespoke Spotify App development studio in the world”.

“Our experience and close working relationship with Spotify will allow us to develop high quality Spotify Apps that work within their guidelines and offer fantastic user experiences,” says Kieron Donoghue, CEO and founder of SMPapps.com. “We have been developing Spotify Apps since late 2011 when the Spotify App Platform was in beta. Since that time we have released two versions of our popular app as well as developing apps for clients such as Coca-Cola Germany.”

The app they designed for Coke Germany earlier this year (see related coverage here) allows users to create and upload custom playlists into the app where they are showcased and judged based on their popularity each week. And it’s these kinds of opportunities that Donoghue will be building the company around moving forward.

It’s worth noting here that ShareMyPlaylists.com is still the main business and is “generating significant ad revenue”, so this isn’t a pivot. Though if it can gain sufficient traction with the service, it’s easy to see this being spun out as a standalone company at some point.

“The Spotify App platform is a fantastic platform to develop for because it allows a legal way for apps to integrate with Spotify’s rich catalogue of over 18 million tracks,” he says. “We’re very excited to build the next generation of music apps for our clients. We believe that the Spotify App platform will continue to grow, and its integration with the Spotify client allows for creative and unique app development that you can’t find on other platforms.”

An interesting move for sure, and we’ll undoubtedly begin seeing many apps emerge from the SMPapps.com conveyor belt in the future.